THE PROPOSAL to establish a conflict transformation centre at the Maze prison site near Lisburn, Co Antrim, appears about to be officially sealed after the European Union approved £18 million (€21.7 million) in funding for the project.
A more comprehensive announcement about a possible £300 million development at the Maze site is expected from First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness shortly. This is expected to include the conflict centre and the transferring of the huge Royal Ulster Agricultural Society operations at Balmoral in south Belfast to the Maze.
This would mean that in future years the major agricultural Balmoral Show would be held at the Maze site. Facilities for motor rally and aviation enthusiasts are also expected to be created there.
It is expected that a Maze Corporation will oversee the works.
Some unionist sensitivities about the conflict centre had put a question mark over the project. The possibility of it being located in one of the H-Blocks caused controversy in recent years with a number of unionist politicians expressing suspicions it would become a shrine to the republican prisoners who died on hunger strike at the Maze in 1981.
The likelihood of the centre being established at the Maze moved a significant step closer after the DUP yesterday expressed support for the project. However, Ulster Unionist MLA Mike Nesbitt said the notion of having the centre at the Maze was “so toxic for unionists and loyalists that it will never get buy-in from them”.
Former republican prisoner Raymond McCartney, a Sinn Féin Assembly member, said the centre would “not only create jobs but will also be a shining example of how the North accepts diversity”.